Miss Match

Spending money on the boring crap that I need to keep this household running each week is not my idea of fun. I'd rather blow it on throw cushions or beautiful scented candles-not toilet paper and granola bars. In an effort to trim some of the spending from the boring stuff, I sit down with my flyers, my sharpie and a cup of coffee each week. About 20 minutes later, my flyers look like this:

Next comes the list. Here's where I can get a bit neurotic, It's got to be well-organized and neatly printed. Voila.

Step 3, I go to Walmart-where I take full advantage of their "price match" guarantee. I'm sure when the staff see me breeze through those automatic double doors, with my flyers neatly stacked in my cart, they think "Oh, her again." After loading my cart with the mundane items I need, I roll into the check-out line and prepare my haul. The items I'm not price matching get tossed up onto the belt first. Then, I group the items remaining according to store. I put them up on the belt and set the coordinating flyer on top of the pile. Then, I move onto the next flyer in my stack, pulling each item from the cart and arranging it in a neat pile on the belt.

Occasionally, the people behind me in line tap their toes impatiently or roll their eyes while I show the cashier each and every item I'd like matched to a competitor's price. I usually smile smugly at them and move on with my neat piles. In the event that they actually have the balls to say something to me, I tell them that they're welcome to pay full price for their groceries but I'm sure as hell not going to. Sometimes, the person behind me in line applauds my organization and thriftiness and swears that they'll be doing the same thing next week. I hope they do because, on average, I save approximately $20/week. 52 weeks multiplied by $20=a savings of $1,040/year.That'll buy a lot of scented candles.  Meat and dairy are the products I save the most money on, I often pay half price on that stuff without having to drive from grocer to grocer, wasting gas, time and energy. Why not try it yourself?  I guess my idea of fun has been warped by life in the muthahood because feeling that I stuck it to Walmart gets me giddy.